Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 199 of 879
Book I Chapter 17 · I.17.3.1–I.17.3.2
Ancient Greek
p. 3943 ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 1
Ζήνωνα δὲ οὕτως ἀποφαίνεσθαι διαρρήδην· “τοιαύτην δὲ δεήσει εἶναι ἐν περιόδῳ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου διακόσμησιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας, ὅταν ἐκ πυρὸς τροπὴ εἰς ὕδωρ δι’ ἀέρος γένηται, τὸ μέν τι ὑφίστασθαι καὶ γῆν συνίστασθαι, [καὶ] ἐκ τοῦ λοιποῦ δὲ τὸ μὲν διαμένειν ὕδωρ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀτμιζομένου ἀέρα γίγνεσθαι, λεπτυνομένου δὲ τοῦ ἀέρος πῦρ ἐξάπτεσθαι, τὴν δὲ μῖξιν ⟨καὶ⟩ κρᾶσιν γίγνεσθαι τῇ εἰς ἄλληλα τῶν στοιχείων μεταβολῇ σώματος ὅλου δι’ ὅλου τινὸς ἑτέρου διερχομένου.”
3 ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 2
Κλεάνθης δὲ οὕτω πώς φησιν· ἐκφλογισθέντος τοῦ παντὸς συνίζειν τὸ μέσον αὐτοῦ πρῶτον, εἶτα τὰ ἐχόμενα ἀποσβέννυσθαι δι’ ὅλου. Τοῦ δὲ παντὸς ἐξυγρανθέντος τὸ ἔσχατον τοῦ πυρός, ἀντιτυπήσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ μέσου, τρέπεσθαι πάλιν εἰς τοὐναντίον, εἶθ’ οὕτω τρεπόμενον ἄνω φησὶν αὔξεσθαι καὶ ἄρχεσθαι διακοσμεῖν τὸ ὅλον·
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 17
p. 3953 ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Zeno
Zeno explicitly declared as follows: “The ordering of the whole out of its substance in a cycle must occur in this way: when fire changes through air into water, some of it settles and earth forms, [and] while of the remainder some stays water, air arises from what evaporates; and as the air becomes finer, fire is kindled.472 Mixture ⟨and⟩ blending occur through the transformation of the elements into one another, one entire body passing through the entirety of another.”473
3 ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Cleanthes, part 1
Cleanthes speaks somewhat as follows: when the whole has been turned to flame, its center first contracts, and then the adjoining parts are extinguished throughout. When the whole has become moist, the outermost fire, encountering resistance from the center, turns back in the opposite direction. Then, turning in this way, it grows upward, he says, and begins to order the whole.474
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 17 · I.17.3.1–I.17.3.2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Stobaeus gathered Greek philosophy and poetry for his son Septimius. Volume I presents the dedication testimony, On Arithmetic, Book I through chapter 60, and the ancient contents of all four books. This complete bilingual edition includes an introduction and 2,117 explanatory notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek follows Curt Wachsmuth’s 1884 Volume I, checked against the supplied scan. Gaps, lost-chapter headings, and uncertain attributions remain visible. Chapter 2 includes a labeled proposed reconstruction. The appendix outlines Books I–IV; the full texts of Books II–IV are outside this volume. Reader pages preserve the companion PDF’s numbering.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Prose and verse retain their distinct forms, with mixed passages preserving their quoted verse. Every passage is paired with its Greek and identified by the edition’s reference number. All 2,117 notes remain linked to their passages, with continuous numbering across the introduction and text.
Rights
Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 printing are in the public domain. The independent English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The complete supplied edition is available as PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown. The PDF retains the fixed page locations used by the companion lexicon.